Breaststroke Basics

RE: Breaststroke Basics

aztimm — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:12:11 GMT

Actually, someone recommended I work on breaststroke to serve as a "recovery" stroke during an open water freestyle swim. Seems like it would take more energy to do this stroke for a given distance, maybe he was just saying "if you get tired or frustrated do something different for a while"? When I've done open water swimming, I'll do about 8-10 strokes of free, then a few ***, to both sight and relax a little. *** was one stroke I learned as a kid that mostly stuck with me over the years, so I'm pretty comfortable with it.

RE: Breaststroke Basics

funkyfish — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:53:09 GMT

Actually, someone recommended I work on breaststroke to serve as a "recovery" stroke during an open water freestyle swim. Seems like it would take more energy to do this stroke for a given distance, maybe he was just saying "if you get tired or frustrated do something different for a while"? I'm also trying to learn breaststroke. My wife teaches swim lessons and she told me that you can do it in open water to help you get through waves. It seems to me that if you swim it leisurely then it doesn't take a lot of energy, but if you try to go fast you've got to really work at it. It's work for me fast or slow because I'm rotten at it. :violin:

RE: Breaststroke Basics

Former Member — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:18:55 GMT

RE: Breaststroke Basics

aztimm — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:45:39 GMT

Hello! However, to be able to swim this wide with the arms you need to be very strong (and fully tapered) IMO: I agree with Allen that you should build up to a good stroke, then if you choose to do a meet and taper, keep at what you're doing at that point, while cutting back distance. When I did meets, I was always cautious when a coach would have me change things close to a meet, especially with breaststroke. Swimming *** is usually the best practice. Sure, you can do some weights also; I've found that chest/fly reps (both with a machine and dumbells) help me the most for *** arms. If you plan to do a meet some day, practice doing some fast sets periodically, depending when the meet is and the distance you'd plan to swim.

RE: Breaststroke Basics

Former Member — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:23:32 GMT

Thanks for the links. Very helpful. I think he was showing me in terms of something I could do to take a break from freestyle during an open water swim. For sure, the pics and the video show a much wider sweep of the arms than what he showed me. Um, what do you mean by tapered???? :rolleyes:

RE: Breaststroke Basics

Former Member — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:06:07 GMT

Hello! I think this article gives a very good picture of modern breaststroke....at least the arm part. However, to be able to swim this wide with the arms you need to be very strong (and fully tapered) IMO: www.breaststroke.info/grotebreast.htm This page gives you a good picture of Kitajimas theoretical stroke in regs of timing and width of both arms and feet...be sure to simulate in slow motion to really understand the stroke: www.swimming.jp/.../kitajima_door.html BR Per

RE: Breaststroke Basics

Allen Stark — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:06:00 GMT

How wide your pull should be depends on your hand speed and strength.The wider your pull the more power you can generate on the insweep,but the wider it is the more likely it is to throw off your timing and the harder it is to not have a dead spot in the insweep to recovery transition.Try what works best for you.I would disagree in I believe that your stroke should not change during taper.

RE: Breaststroke Basics

That Guy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:11:52 GMT

en.wikipedia.org/.../Tapering_(sports)